Stardust, or A Story of Daring Romance and Adventure
by Flipping Seltzer
Summary: Arthur Pendragon, shopboy, is determined to win his love by bringing her a star from beyond The Wall. Unfortunately, the star turns out to a rather foul-tempered young man who's just as determined to get back to the sky. Add in witches, pirates, and a bunch of royal children bent on fratricide... This is going to be tricky.
1. The Wall

I disclaim. Merlin belongs to the BBC and Stardust belongs to the wonderful Neil Gaiman.

AN: So this plot bunny jumped into my head and wouldn't leave until I got it down. Basically this is Stardust but with characters from Merlin- which all fits surprisingly well, a fact that hit me when I was watching the movie last night. This is not really a crossover so much as me substituting one set of characters for another. I'm using plot from both the movie and the book and I'm making the brave decision to have this be Merthur slash although I'm quite sure I'm horrible at romance. Nothing to graphic as Neil Gaiman is a master of implication but it'll still be there. I really was planning to have Gwen be the star but come on- Merlin is so obviously Ivaine its ridiculous!

Chapter One: The Wall

_Victorian England was not the sort of exciting place that many imagine. It was, on the whole, quite unremarkable for most people and for those whose lives held a little more excitement... well they usually didn't last long. It was a dangerous world, after all. (At least, they thought so. We, of course, know entirely better. In comparison to some it was downright safe. But more on that later.) But most lived unexceptional lives, particularly in Camelot, a small town that seemed, to most of the people who lived there, to be well away from anything exciting like cities or war or even loud noises. _

_And it suited the townspeople very well._

_No one likes loud noises, after all._

_Yes, the people of Camelot were very pleased to be away from everything that might bring danger to their lands. It was why they'd built The Wall in the first place. _

_The Wall was large stone one, that ran along the town to the north. It had been there for as long as anyone could remember and it ran all along the outskirts of town, neatly dividing the large field that ran behind it. But no one in the town cared to plant on the other side and no one ever mentioned tearing It down. No, The Wall would stay forever; when it wore, the town rebuilt it and when strange noises seemed to float over it from the other side, the guard was doubled. The was only one fault in The Wall, a sort of doorway torn in the stone. It was here that the guard was doubled, here that one man always sat, even when the wall was quiet, preventing folk from crossing the old barrier. _

_Of course, no one wanted to and soon The Wall was almost (almost) forgotten and the guard changed from able bodied young men to stooped old men with time. And Camelot was quiet and ordinary._

_Until a boy decided he would cross it._

Uther Pendragon was an unusual boy. He was popular but not well liked, handsome but not good-looking. He was quiet and severe but still lighthearted when the occasion called for it. He was simply... odd. Not because of any the above quirks (he was a young man, after all, and young men are allowed their strangeness until they settle down) but because he longed for adventure. He dreamed of knights and battles and rescuing damsels and life away from Camelot. Which was ridiculous because no one ever left Camelot.

But still... "I'm going tonight." he said quietly to his assistant, Gaius. Gaius was Uther's only friend, although he'd be dead before he admit it and he had heard this claim many times before.

"Sure you are sir." The other man replied and continued sorting the paperwork.

Uther had just finished his studies and had taken up a post in the office of the town's only lawyer, Mr. Kilgharrah. Gaius, who had a year left himself, had taken it upon himself to clerk for his friend and prevent him from losing all of the paperwork he was supposed to be filing. "I am." Uther said subbornly, catching his friends absent and unbelieving tone.

Gaius simply sighed. These claims had been more frequent lately, since Uther had started working. He hated Kilgharrah and the old dragon, as the town had nicknamed the older man, hated him back with just as much fervor. The soon-to-be-doctor ran a hand through his prematurely graying hair. If he didn't know better, he'd say that the two lawyers had come to blows at some point in the past, so extreme was their grudge. It was a small miracle that Uther had been offered the job, but that was mostly Gaius and Balinor's doing. Balinor Kilgharrah was the younger brother of the gruff lawyer and was Uther's other, more occasional friend. Occasional, because every so often the two would despise each other for weeks, huffing and resentful until Gaius managed to get them drunk enough to forget their strange fights.

And this was why Gaius knew that Uther would never jump The Wall. Balinor was its main guard and it would be him who was fired if word got out that someone had slipped through the doorway into danger. And so he ignored his friend's plans, content in the knowledge that nothing would come of them.

_Until of course... something did._

It was nothing and yet... Uther left the office, his face a flame with anger and embarrassment. Kilgharrah had betrayed him yet again in front of a client, calling out his shoddy work and deciding it was laziness and not what it was, which was inexperience. Uther could accept being young and untried but he would not be called a fool.

No.

He slammed into his small house, messy and yet empty with no wife to clean or decorate. He stared around his sad little house and then, the rage swelling around him once more, shrugged out of his work clothes and into his travel jacket and boots. Slapping a hat on his head and shoving money into his pack he took one more look around and then left, slamming the door and heading out into the twilight.

It was dark by the time he reached The Wall and he almost walked into it before his eyes adjusted. Balinor was the only one on guard tonight, and he was down by the doorway, whittling away and seated on his small stool. Uther threw his pack over and tried to climb. The Wall was not that tall, was not that slick and it should have been easy. (It wasn't.) He tried to climb it three times and each time his feet inexplicably lost traction or stones would slip from his grasp. The last time he felt like he'd been climbing for a half hour at least but when he looked up he was no closer to the top than five minutes in.

By now he'd worked himself up into a proper lather. No good at work, no good at climbing walls... what was happening to him! And so he stomped over to the doorway and Balinor, determined that he would get what he wanted.

To his fury, Balinor barely glanced up when he strode over, turning his face back to the small dragon he was carving. "Evening Uther."

Uther said nothing, but attempted to shove by him and through the break in the wall. To his surprise, Balinor suddenly seemed much larger and the opening much smaller. "Let me pass." He growled.

Balinor raised his eyebrows and kept a firm grip on his sleeve."What's wrong then?"

"What's wrong is that you and your blasted brother are constantly in my way! Now move!"

But the other man would not budge. "No one's permitted through the wall, you know that." His cavalier tone infuriated Uther more. "Now go home and cool off- whatever clouds on your mind will soon pass you by." It was so blasted annoying, how the Kilgharrah's seemed so indifferent to everyone and everything- they didn't speak about The Wall as if it was anything exciting, didn't respect it like everyone else. If anything, Balinor seemed to think it amusing that he was paid to guard people from going out.

"I know you don't think anything's over there Balinor! Look at it! It's just a field. Just let me pass- I'll come right back!" Balinor's grip was iron tight so Uther tried to reason with the man.

"What makes you so sure I think nothings on the otherside?" Balinor's face was strangely still.

Uther scoffed. "You act as if it's silly, preventing people from leaving. I've heard you say yourself we don't need to fear people leaving. So let me go- I'll prove you right."

Balinor frowned and let go of Uther's arm, but pushed him in the direction of town. "You're right boy. I don't fear people _leaving_- but that doesn't mean there isn't danger. Go home- whatever's been done will be better tomorrow." And with one more push he turned away, heading back to his stool and block of wood.

And Uther took his chance, knowing that if he succeeded he would lose Balinor's friendship forever.

He shoved the man hard, headfirst into The Wall and then sprinted through the opening jumping over Balinor's outstretched hand that tried to catch his ankle. Once he was a good distance away he turned back. Balinor stood in the doorway, hand to his head and glower on his face. "I'm sorry!" Uther shouted but the dark man did nothing, just glared and then sat down on his stool, back to the runaway.

The young man shrugged. Balinor would forgive him eventually, when he finished exploring the empty field and forest and returned to tell everyone that there was nothing behind The Wall but nature, just as the carver had always said. Deciding not to go for his pack, as it would bring him closer to Balinor's tight grip, Uther set out into the forest, determined to prove that he could do something no one else in his quiet, unexciting Camelot could.

Be adventurous.


	2. The Market

AN: I know that my Uther may be a bit AU here, but remember he's young and not quite as jaded yet- he'll get back to suspicious, mean Uther soon.

Chapter Two: The Market of Wall

And so Uther set out, quite determined to find nothing more than a forest. He was both sorely disappointed and surprisingly elated to find instead, that the forest he'd assumed to be thick, was in fact quite narrow, opening up into a small market village. He stood, staring at the bustle and flow of the strangest place he'd ever been. It was alight with color and noise and the people... the people were quite unlike any he'd seen.

_What Uther did not know, at the time, was that the majority of the traders at Wall were not entirely... people as he would consider the word. Parts of them were, sure- who didn't have a bit of ordinary in them? A small part of every creature longs to curl up in front of a fire with a good book and nothing exciting. But most of them? Witches and warlocks and pirates and every nature of creature the people of Camelot would be frightened by. Dwarfs ran the mill and fairies, tall and elegant and terrifying, controlled the forest and sold its fruits from baskets and stalls. The Old Religion never died in Wall and the market, with eyeballs and manticores and sorcery, was the very center of its lifeblood._

_One such sorceress, Morgause, was a strong keeper of its secrets and a danger that Uther was unknowingly heading towards._

Uther stumbled through the market, fascinated and repelled by the amazing sights and sounds surrounding him. This place was... everything. Wait until he told Gaius about the medicine in that stand or Balinor about the creatures in that one! A yellow stand caught his eye, as did the beautiful woman tending it. Long dark hair in strange braids and heavy lidded eyes that peered at him drew him over. "What'll it be boy? A flower for your lady?" Morgause smirked at him, knowing her charms would draw a purchase. "How much do you have to spend?"

Uther couldn't speak he was so overwhelmed, but pulled some coins from his pocket. Morgause smiled as she plucked one from his hand but then scowled as she saw it, tossing it back at the man in disgust. "What trickery is this?! Don't try and swindle me with fake coin boy!" She grouched and turned away grabbing her cloak and snapping her fingers. "I don't deal with time wasters. Girl! Watch this stall!" And then she stormed away, leaving a confused Uther in her wake.

And then a stunned Uther as a girl his own age sashayed over, blond hair in a coif and lovely blue eyes smiling. She reached out and took a coin for herself turning her head and examining it closely. Watching her, Uther dropped the rest into his pocket and simply stared at her loveliness. "Strange. I've never seen markings like this. Where are you from boy?"

"Camelot." Uther breathed, entranced by the light on her hair.

"I've never heard of it- is it beautiful?" She smiled.

He sighed. "You are." And then he shook his head, laughing shakily as she blushed.

"My mistress will be upset if don't make a sale- do you see anything you like?"

And now it was his turn to blush as he blurted out, "yes," without looking at the wares. B then he glanced down- glass flowers shown in the lights from the stall. They were exquisite. He glanced up- but the girl was still more beautiful than any flower. "What about the blue ones?" He plucked a little blue lily from its holder.

A slender hand reached out and took it from him. "Oh no. The blue one won't suit you at all." Her hand hovered over the flowers till she plucked out the single white piece of glass. "The snowdrop I think- it will keep you safe."

He reached out and took the fragile thing, admiring its beauty. "I'll take it. But-" he stammered, "I don't have any money. How much is it?"

The girl hummed from the other side, smiling like the sun and tilting her head as her eyes ran over him. "It might be the color of your eyes, or the name of your first child... but no... no I think its price is a kiss." She smiled mischievously and tilted her cheek towards him.

He took a deep breath and leaned forward, intending to relish the feel of her smooth cheek on his lips. But then she turned and kissed him outright, her breath like honeysuckle and her lips wet. He pulled back after a moment, shocked. Women were never so forward in Camelot.

After a moment of staring at each other they both laughed, embarrassed, but she bit her lip and glanced around, then stepped out from the stall and pulled him towards her and the small yellow caravan that matched the stand. He followed her, but then tripped on a thin chain. Once he regained his balance he followed the loose chain and frowned when he saw it attached to the girls ankle. She watched his gaze travel and flushed again, this time in shame. but then she rallied and sat down on the caravan steps, offering her ankle. "I'm a princess tricked into being that witches slave. Set me free?"

"Of course!" Uther eagerly pulled the small knife he kept in his boot from its hiding place and cut the thin chain, surprised the girl hadn't done so already. He watched in amazement as the chain repaired itself, leaving him holding a useless short link as the girl stared sadly at him. "What?" He murmured.

She smiled wistfully. "It's a magic chain- I'm bound to her until she dies. Or I do."

"I'll find a way to free you!" Uther declared, visions of blond damsels in his eyes.

She reached out and brushed his face with her fingertips. "Sweet boy- don't distress yourself. She's too powerful. What's your name?"

"Uther. And yours?"

"Igraine." She smiled and held out her hand for him to help her up and he did so, thinking to himself that Igraine was the name of an angel. "Come with me." She pulled him up the steps and into the caravan.

He stumbled forward. "Where are we going?" She smiled mysteriously and tugged him the rest of the way into the small yellow carriage.

_And when Uther returned that night to Camelot, he found that the town had not changed, although he felt himself very much different than when he'd left. _

_Balinor sat on his stool, quiet and stern as Uther stumbled back through the doorway, drunk on his love for Igraine and magic world he'd discovered. But he never went back, for like most men, then world took him forward into a life he felt he quite stumbled into. His memories of the market were clear and he longed for the beautiful Igraine who could never be free and the fantastic world beyond the wall._

_But very soon he married the woman his parents choose him and they settled into his little house that was suddenly not so small or messy after all. _

_And soon the fantastic world became terrible and worrisome- as wonderful things are ought to do when one is away from them. And Uther pledged to put his adventure and the market from his mind, a task which he successfully managed until one night about nine months later..._

_When a baby showed up on his doorstep._


	3. The Baby

Chapter Three: The Baby

To say that Uther was surprised to see Balinor at his front door in the middle of the night was an understatement. The man was glowering darkly as he thrust a basket into Uther's hands. "I told you not to cross the wall." He spat.

Uther glanced down and almost dropped the basket when he saw something move within it. He pushed aside the blankets to reveal, of all things, a baby. "What is this?!" Was Balinor, who hadn't spoken to him in almost a year, playing a trick on him? Did he think it was funny, bringing a child out in the snow and plopping him into Uther's arms.

"I think you know what it is, Uther Pendragon." Balinor retorted sharply, as unhappy bringing the tidings as Uther was to receive them- it. "The lass who dropped them off said he was yours- specifically, by name. I guess you weren't as careful as you planned, beyond the wall."

"What do you know of beyond The Wall?" Uther accused, hackles up now that he was being mocked. The little child in the basket was awake now, looking up at him with familiar blue eyes and chewing on the end of a black candle that had been shoved within.

Balinor shook his head, eyes dark with knowledge. "I know more than you'd think you stubborn fool. And look what your foolishness has brought you." And with that, the guardsman turned away just as Uther's new wife, Catrina, came down the stairs. "And now you must live with your adventure Uther- I hope it suits you." Right before he slipped into the dark and Uther shut the door he turned back. "His name is Arthur, by the way. She told me that as well."

"Arthur." Uther muttered to himself, shutting the door and then reaching down to pry the usual candle from the baby's grasp. "Arthur, my son." And he moved into the main room to face the wrath and disappointment of his new wife.

_But all the wrath in the world would not convince Uther to part with his son, who he both despised and loved and who was a constant reminder of his adventure and love beyond The Wall. _

_Time went on._

_Catrina and Uther had children of their own, two girls and a son, who were normal and content and never dreamed of life beyond Camelot. Uther left Kilgharrah's (who never seemed to die, in spite of the fact he was older than anyone in town) and opened his own practice. After a short while he became mayor, despite the unusual 'situation' of his elder son and he made sure that Camelot was safe from anything beyond The Wall. The years had made him more anxious of the magical world beyond and he did all he could to prevent it from ruining his perfect life. _

_The guard on the wall was always doubled and Balinor was fired, more out of a personal vendetta than anything. No strangers were allowed into the town with references from their previous mayor. And absolutely everyone and everything was Absolutely Normal. There was no Nonsense-Sort-Of-Magic and certainly no Strange-Goings-On. _

_And yet..._

_The Mayor's son was somewhat of a peculiarity. Arthur Pendragon seemed like a upstanding and handsome young fellow. His father's seemingly constant disapproval made him a hard worker who followed direction and aimed to please; his good looks made him a target of young ladies; but of course, there were the other things. _

_The way he never got lost, even when his classmates blindfolded him and left him in the forest._

_The way his blue eyes watched people, as if he were seeing their souls._

_The way no one knew who his mother was or where he came from or why he seemed so... well...off._

_He was unusual and unusual things were not to be trusted. And so 21 years later he was still the strange boy, still living with his father and stepmother, and still dreaming of things he shouldn't..._

_Oh- and he worked in a shop. (That's rather important.)_

It was almost lunch when Viviane walked into Mr. Monday's and so it was very busy in the shop, almost to the point where some ladies were considering waiting outside, away from the heat and the push of people waiting to be served. _(I told you the shop thing was important- it sets the whole scene doesn't it?)_

Arthur noticed her immediately, because really, who didn't notice Viviane? Blond and slight and perfect, she shone brightly amongst the rest of the customers who all seemed to fade away when she entered. He tossed the bag of potatoes onto Mrs. Knightly's pile and hurried to her, oblivious to the old woman faltering with the load or Mr. Monday's glare. "Good Morning Vivian." He greeted her cheerfully, hoping she wouldn't notice the dirt on his face or the sweat running down his shirt. "Do you need something?"

She smirked to herself, happily cutting the line at his prompting. As she rattled off her list he struggled to comply and flatter her at the same time. He'd been in love with Vivian for years, and although her father Olaf was careful to keep Arthur away from her window he was sure he was making progress.

He was sure of it.

"May I see you tonight?" He asked, panting from his quick treks about the shop and around angry housewives.

She smiled at him. "...No. But you may walk me home."

And he did. But of course, halfway there Cenred, Cendred with his stupid walking stick and expensive flowers (expensive everything) interrupted them.

And so Arthur walked himself back to the store and then promptly walked himself home after Mr. Monday fired him.

Staring at the door to his house, he tried to screw up his courage. His father wouldn't be pleased- he'd gotten him the job at Monday's, had gotten him the other shop jobs he'd been fired from previously. Now he'd been fired again and there were no more shops, no more options.

But it wasn't his fault! Well.. this time sure, leaving midday rush had been foolish, but the other times? Strange things just happened around him or to him. It's not as if he was looking for trouble. "Did you get fired again?" Helen, his youngest sister, had opened the front window and was leaning out, staring at him staring at the door. "Father's going to be mad." She taunted.

"Shut up you." He snapped at her, opening the door and scowling at her back half when he moved inside.

He charged up to his room, ignoring Catrina's call from the kitchen. He lay down on his small bed in the attic, displeased with the whole day and blaming Cenred for all of it. After a moment, Catrina's firm knock sounded on his door, he groaned but she pushed in anyway, glass of milk in her hand. She sighed and settled herself in the small wicker chair he'd dragged up, looking harassed and tired. She offered him the glass and he gratefully took it, the two staring at each other in silence.

It wasn't that he disliked Catrina. The redhead was strong-minded and shrewd, but she was good for his father and was always kind to him. It's just that he always got this feeling of 'not mine' from her. He was not her child and she was not his mother- and that was that. When he was little he remembered her being kinder, but the years and his father's temper and job had caused her to harden slightly, and now, at 22 he was just another problem she had to deal with, another worry in her unending supply. "I heard about Mr. Monday's." She offered. He said nothing and stared into the empty glass. She sighed, "and I heard about Vivian. I'm sorry Arthur."

"Thanks." He replied. That was one thing Catrina was good about- girls. She'd been pushing him to get married for a while and he knew it was just because she wanted him out of her house, but she was kind and encouraging about it, unlike Uther.

"Maybe try again tonight, when Cenred's not there?" She suggested, before standing up and taking his glass, done with her short attempt at mothering. "You never know- sometimes romantic gestures can turn a girls head." With that, she left and Arthur mulled that over. A romantic gesture? He could probably handle that- but what did girls like? And so he thought and planned until his father got home and then he got a lecture.

"Again Arthur?" Uther held the cold glass of something alcoholic up to his forehead. "This is the third place since you've been twenty." He looked up from his study chair and Arthur tried to stand up taller, to look stronger, to... do something that wouldn't make his father look... just like he was. "You're a man now. You can't keep disappointing me and I can't keep looking after you. Aredian can hold a job and he's eighteen! Maybe I've been too lenient with you. That's it- tomorrow morning you come to my firm and clerk for one of the new men."

"But father-"

"No. You don't want to do the law- then you don't get fired from four shops in four years. " He looked up at the sky. "My son the shopboy." He pierced Arthur with a probing gaze. "Don't you want to do something with your life? Find a wife, make something?" He sighed.

Arthur pursed his lips- he felt as if quite a few people were sighing at him lately. "I do want to do something." His father raised his eyebrows. "I want to travel. I want to go to Paris or London- see the world."

Uther slammed his glass down. "The world is not all it's cracked up to be boy! You want to leave Camelot? With what money, what plan!? No. No, you'll stay right here and get your life together. Tomorrow morning you come to work with me and that's final."

Their conversation over and decidedly one sided Arthur stiffly left the room and then stormed out of the house, not wanting anything to do with his father, even over dinner. Five feet out the door he almost rammed into someone. "Careful there my boy." Arthur looked up to see his father's friend Gaius smiling at him. "You'll run someone over."

"Oh who cares!" Arthur snapped, immediately regretting when he saw the hurt on his doctors face. "Sorry Gaius." He apologized quickly.

Gaius sternly but quickly accepted and then steered them to a nearby bench. "Now what's the matter? Why are you heading out before supper? Is this about Vivian?" Arthur groaned. Did the entire town know about his humiliation? (Yes.)

"No... well yes... I don't know. My father says I have to go to work with him but Gaius- I don't want to be a lawyer. I don't want to live the life he's planned out for me. I want to travel, see the world- I just feel I don't belong here." Gaius frowned, a strange look crossing his face quickly.

"...Well. I can't say I'm surprised. Your father had quite the wanderlust himself once upon a time. "

"Uther? Leave Camelot?" Arthur questioned skeptically.

The old physician smiled secretively. "You'd be surprised. Listen, if you're that concerned about it, come to my office in the morning and we'll discuss it. Tell your father you're not feeling well- he'll let you come, I'm sure of it. Perhaps we can find you something you'd be happier with, yes?" And the old man patted Arthur's knee and stood, heading back towards Arthur's house. "Give Vivian my best!"

The blonde boy scowled- the whole town was busybodies.


End file.
